Showing up in numbers

Tens of thousands of snow geese make the trip back to their summertime Arctic home

(Photo by Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program)

by Joan Smedinghoff

March 02, 2018

Tens of thousands of migrating snow geese flock to a farm field near Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area while tundra swans swim in Lancaster County, Pa., on February 25, 2018. That day, the Pennsylvania Game Commission estimated that 30,000 snow geese, more than 3,500 tundra swans, and 2,000 Canada geese visited Middle Creek. The week before, the site hosted a record 200,000 snow geese.

The snow goose (Chen caerulescens) has one of the largest populations of any goose species in the world, ranking behind only the Canada goose in population size and harvest. They make the Chesapeake Bay region their home during the winter, but migrate back to the Arctic tundra to breed during the spring and summer. There, their nesting colonies can number in the tens of thousands.

Snow geese come in two morphs, or color patterns: white and blue. The blue goose was once thought to be a distinct species, but is now known to be a dark phase of the same goose. Many mate for life, and tend to choose a partner of the same color morph as the family members they grew up with.

About Joan Smedinghoff - Joan is the Web Content Specialist at the Chesapeake Bay Program. Originally from Chicago, she was introduced to the Chesapeake Bay region through the streams of central Pennsylvania. She received her Bachelor's in Environmental Studies from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., where she first discovered her passion for storytelling.